Heavenly Gaits

Enlisted to train an adorably free-spirited dog, Holly Winter gets sidetracked when the dog's owner- an over-medicated, over-analyzed, super-dysfunctional New Age wife and mother-is found dead following an accidental overdose. Accidental. Yeah, right.

Offers information about the breed of horses which is popular for riding and for horse shows and which is as famous for its personality as for its gait.

The gaited horse—bred and trained to perform smooth-to-ride, ground-covering alternative gaits (not the trot/jog or canter/lope) that can often be sustained long distances and sometimes at astounding speeds—has steadily gained mainstream popularity as a pleasure or trail mount, in addition to its traditional status as a top-notch show-ring competitor. While generations of careful breeding have instilled a natural ability to "gait" in certain breeds, the "smooth saddle gaits" are not necessarily automatic. This means that riders, whether exploring the backcountry or vying for a championship ribbon, need to train their gaited horse to be able to perform, and then school him to perform well, consistently, and without doing damage to his body. "The best person to develop your gaited horse's smooth saddle gaits is you!" writes renowned gaited-horse trainer and clinician Brenda Imus in The Gaited Horse Bible. "You need to learn only a few basic principles to develop and maintain your horse's gaits. As you do, you will build an important relationship with him (as well as saving trainer's fees). It's a 'win-win' situation all the way around." From the simplest, clearest explanation of the "Gait Spectrum" you'll find, to a discussion of gaited horse breeds (their history, characteristics, and uses) and gaits (running walk, rack, fox trot, tolt, trocha, for example), to an in-depth study of conformation, movement, and soundness—it's all in this terrific resources. Year-by-year basic training and advanced schooling, including flexion, collection, and lateral work to improve natural gaiting ability, is followed by a superb problem-solving section that features simple exercises for alleviating common behavioral problems, avoiding and correcting physical issues, and fixing deviations in a horse's smooth gaits. With a summary of bridles, bits, saddle fit and back dynamics, as well as optimal shoeing and trimming for gaited horses, The Gaited Horse Bible is the perfect how-to package for every gaited horse rider and owner.

Iconic sites like Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, and Grand Coulee Dam are complemented by those undiscovered places that only a longtime local can show you. From the eastern deserts to the western rainforests, Washington is home to some of the most varied and beautiful places in the country. Iconic sites like Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, and Grand Coulee Dam are complemented by those unknown and undiscovered places that only a longtime local like the author can show you.

"The need to preserve farm animal diversity is increasingly urgent, says the author of this definitive book on endangered breeds of livestock and poultry. Farmyard animals may hold critical keys for our survival, Jan Dohner warns, and with each extinction, genetic traits of potentially vital importance to our agricultural future or to medical progress are forever lost."--BOOK JACKET.

After several visits to study Icelandic sagas, Nancy Brown returns to Iceland to search for the perfect Icelandic horse, one she can bring back to her Pennsylvania farm and make her own. To do so, she must become part of the country's tightly knit horse-breeding community, which can be wary of outsiders and extremely protective of the world-famous breed. In this clear-eyed, evocative account set against Iceland's austere and majestic landscape, she describes what makes Icelandic horses and their owners so distinctive. She also discovers her limitations as a horsewoman and learns much about what she is looking for-in a horse and in her life.

This volume has grown over the years as a family project of Martha Harris, her two daughters Meg and Morag and her husband, Donald Meltzer. It therefore has its roots in English literature and its branches waving wildly about in psychoanalysis. It is earnestly hoped that it will reveal more problems than it will solve.